The King (Warriors 110, Heat 111)

For once, there should be consensus in the great blame game that inevitably follows Warriors losses. This one is LeBron’s fault. After a sluggish and sloppy first half, the Warriors made the necessary adjustments and roared back to life against the Wade-less Heat. With the game on the line, the Warriors matched the Heat stop for stop, and Stephen Curry matched LeBron James shot for shot — until the last one. Against tight defense by Andre Iguodala, James cooly sank a fade-away three-pointer from 25-plus feet, then strolled down the sideline as if he hadn’t just singlehandedly crushed the dreams of the nearly 20,000 people screaming at him seconds earlier. Decades from now, when the topic of LeBron James comes up, I’ll stare off into the distance, think about shots like that one, shake my head and say “if only you could have seen him play.”

While I may not remember the Warriors’ 110 points on Wednesday night the way I remember LeBron’s final 3, there were plenty of encouraging parts to their performance:

Had it not been for the last shot, the storyline of the game would have been how Stephen Curry held his own with the greatest basketball player on the planet. He repeatedly rose to the occasion in the fourth quarter. Had time not expired, Curry very well could have repaid LeBron’s game-winner on the next possession at the other end. It was that type of night. Beyond the heroics, Curry’s 29-point performance was hyper efficient — 8-14 from the field, 4-4 from behind the arc, 9-9 from the line. Turnovers were still an issue, but unlike other games where Curry’s errors seem unforced, his 5 for the night were largely a product of tremendous Heat defense. For most of the first half, Curry was barely able to pass out of double and triple teams, let alone find enough daylight to get off a shot. Credit to Mark Jackson for adjusting the perimeter screens in the second half to help buy Curry more space to at least get off a pass when the double team arrived.

Curry’s adjustment to pressure was key to the Warriors’ offensive surge in the third quarter. When Curry started getting the ball away from the typical crush of Heat defenders, his teammates started getting open looks. And unlike the first half, where many makable shots seemed to bounce out, the Warriors started connecting. Curry was only 1-4 for the quarter, but Thompson was 4-7, Barnes was 3-4, Lee was 2-3 and Iguodala was 2-2. After being held to 40 first-half points, the Warriors scored 33 in a quarter on 57% shooting. Smart defensive teams know how to frustrate Stephen Curry. The Warriors’ best counter-punch is for the other 4 players on the court to punish the defense when it overplays.

Faced with a suddenly productive and coherent Warriors’ offense despite little offense from Curry, the Heat had to pull back into more traditional defensive sets. As soon as Curry saw single coverage, he started feasting. And he didn’t just pull up for jumpers, but tested the defense with penetration and went all the way to the rim himself. His extra effort not only earned him crucial trips to the line, but helped create defensive chaos where the Warriors’ size disadvantage was less problematic. The Warriors successfully pick-and-rolled Michael Beasley onto David Lee several times, and Lee made the most of the favorable match-up.

Over the final 20 minutes, starting with the Warriors’ thunderous 20-2 run, we saw the flip side to all those recent games when the Warriors played down to competition. With the defending champions in the house, the Warriors played up to them — with smart, tough, focused basketball. It wasn’t just the Stephen Curry show. David Lee, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Harrison Barnes all had game-changing plays at both ends of the court. Andrew Bogut’s absence was felt on defense, but the Warriors adjusted to win back those points at the offensive end with all five players presenting a scoring threat from nearly anywhere on the court. They were once again more than the sum of their parts — not just a paper tiger unable to live up to their own press clippings.

It’s performances like the Warriors’ final 20 minutes that give me hope that this team could still be dangerous in the playoffs. But 20 inspiring minutes aren’t going to get the Warriors to the playoffs — or very far in them. The next 29 games are the Warriors’ opportunity to show that they can play quality basketball over 48 minutes, against good opponents and bad ones, night in and night out. We’ve seen unforgettable performances from the Warriors in big games this season. Now it’s time to work on the little things necessary to consistently win the mundane ones.

Adam Lauridsen

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Fine analysis as always, Adam. Simply a great game won by a Hall of Fame player.
There were plays I wish the Warriors could take back, but I have no complaints with the players or the coaching in this game.

Our Team

Beautiful second half of basketball. The Heat just attacked the basket all night with Bogut out. But the Ws counterpunched effectively right to the end. Best game AI’s played in two months? Barnes again looked good. Nice post, Adam.

rigged

There were about 14 sec left on the game clock after the Curry and -one free throw.

Had they foul at the Heats in bound, it would be a Heat 2 free throw and enough time for another Warriors play. No matter what happened on the Heat free throw.

Obviously, the Warriors Coach/es weren’t ready for this kind of game situation.

They should have called for a time out after the foul on Curry to THINK on their MOVE, anticipate for the the possibilities that might develop for the remaining 14 seconds of the game!

There were 14 SECONDS STILL left to play and lot of things can happen on that span of time. Goodness.

strummer

my one complaint would be curry going too soon on his last shot, but i guess when he sees an opening, go for it. fun comeback to watch, and yes…dang, if you only could have seen him play. we are lucky to witness it. oh what an exciting finals it would be our boys against theirs.

SurfCity

I like your 2nd thought better – take the shot if it looks good. And see comments just below: after the foul, and before the free throws, the coached could have decided to take a timeout and strategize.

Thurston Hunger

Coming back from 21 to then drop down 8 and come back again. A slightly good but moreso a very bad thing…

Turnovers, Steph waiting too long on giving up the ball on the double team, but I liked how he went away from the screen and just took one guy in the second half. The biggest positive tonight from Steph was using body to get a lot of fouls. More of that in the remaining season would be huge. A couple of really smart ones tonight, one where he just took advantage of Bosh who was turned around.

Curry’s last shot was WAY too early but drawing the foul off a defender in a bad position while still giving himself a (relatively) easy shot almost masked that fact. But I do think it was a small mistake. Surprised no one asked about that afterwards.

The AI defense was not horrible at the end. But everytime in the 4th quarter that the W’s seemed to welcome a switch with Klay taking Lebron bothered me. Despite Fitz raving about Klay’s defense on LBJ (which came late with a block after he was beat, thanks to help defense). Other times LBJ went right around or shot right over Klay without drifting left off one foot like the game winner.

Also D. Lee had his worst defensive game in a long time. LBJ way too quick to read and give himself a great angle for a pass while D. Lee is stuck guarding no one.

Mo’s first shot made was his last one made. But his defense was okay…and his rebounding decent.

Beasley hurt the W’s a lot. Going left. Spoelstra almost left him on the court too long though… Greg Oden (three minutes) will not help this team beat the Pacers. Got to see the Heat as slight underdogs in the Eastern championship.

Not sure about Crawford still, and this was one of his better games.

As much as I don’t care for the All-Star party and parade, I think the two “honors” for Harrison have helped to give him a boost of “I-belong” confidence. I might even watch the stupid dunk contest hoping we wins, to give him more of that.

Entertaining loss…that blew away Sleeping Gate. Not sure the loss fits with the recent defensive streak for the W’s. Especially as the Heat were surprisingly Wade-less. Did they say he celebrated his bday last night (after the Suns game and after flying to San Fran). Oh to be in the East where you can do that kind of stuff.

Thurston Hunger

And I like your second thought better, and Strummer’s first. That shot was too early, the fact he got a foul was huge. If he gets the layup easily, The W’s would be hard-pressed to stop LeBron in locomotive mode heading towards the basket, but with the height and ability to find a wide open guy for a simple TWO to win the game.

Oh well, a live and learn moment. Maybe against the Bucks you go early, but not against top tier teams IMHO.

Thurston Hunger

I don’t know…

Do you really think the W’s defense is so bad, you just give them two free throws?

And secondarily, one made FT, and then a miss that the W’s (who have had problems in the past) don’t secure the rebound and man that looks horrible.

One less (out of I think 6) Beasley buckets going left within two feet of the rim, and the W’s win this despite many other flaws.

Thurston Hunger

Any Oracle attendees see if there was a LBJ and JB exchange before the game?

admoney

OK knick, drunk enough to comment on this game now. Please downvote accordingly…

I liked it. It was a bloody-browed fight to the finish. I pray God Heat summon up strength to beat the Pacers and we summon up all the God-given grace we need to get to the Finals against the King and his Court. What a brawl that would be…

I want my crushing and smashing Andrew Bogut there, when the time comes. I would like Mo to have faith in two dribbles to the rim. Loved the Iguodala brutal finishing dunk. That’s how it’s done kids. Klay, HB, JC, are all right there. RIGHT THERE. LeBron hates to play against Draymond Green.

Steph is some kind of crazy. DLee is some kind of awesome. We can beat that team. We can beat any team.

Everybody take a breath and watch Steph show the world what’s up in the ASG. Then, let’s kick it ese.

We ain’t going out like that.

GO DUBS!

Chris L

It’s not impossible that this was a nearly perfect way for this particular team to go into the all-star break.

On one hand, the W’s played beautifully the final 20 mins of the game—and once again demonstrated (most importantly to themselves) how well they’re capable of playing.

On the other hand, it was still a loss. No matter how heroically well they played at the end, it still wasn’t (quite) enough to save the day.

The question’s been sharpening into view for a long time now—what will it take for this team to learn real consistency of focus and effort?

If the message from last night’s game was…

“Yes, we really can be this good. But we still have alot of work to do.”

Then I say that last night’s outcome was win/win.

Tired

Correct. We gave away baskets and turned the ball over at key times in every quarter. Some of those were really dumb plays. We missed very easy shots again under the basket. One basket at the end was not the problem. Curry took that shot rather than getting surrounded with Heat and not being able to pass out of it in time like what happened during the game. Its a choice. A good one considering what was going on. He took it, got the sure basket and a foul. The way they had been bottling him up during the game, that was a good result.

Spoelstra was smart not taking a time out. No sense fouling him with only a 2 point lead unless it was immediately, and that would have put us back where we started before the Curry play. Choices, none of them clear winners.

We played a great game against the best team and the best player, without a center. We lost on a very improbable shot because we stayed home on defense and didn’t give them a sure 2 if James passes out of the 3 he was going to take. And he might have if he saw the chance. Can’t just give it to them, regardless. We couldn’t have guarded him/them any better without fouling him.

So big deal. He made the shot, falling backwards, off balance at an angle from more than 25 feet away. How often does even the best player in the world make that shot? Any stats on that? Nothing we could have done about it that we didn’t do. He is the hero tonight. Next time, with a full team, who knows. I like our chances against them.

Lebron is, however, the perfect example of a great athlete who knows how to trust his body. Call it faith if you will, but actually if you let your subconscious mind do the work, and that IS an act of faith of sorts, just not religous, your chances of success are the best that you can get. Truly great athletes and musicians know this. They live it. Lesser players will think too much when they take a shot like that and probably miss it. Get in the grove, man. He sure did. Wow.

Tired

Maybe he is trying to set a good example for Barnes. Seriously, learning by example is a powerful thing.

Tired

Yes, a lot of drama. i almost gave up on them in the third quarter. I was pretty upset with the sloppy passing and not being careful with the ball. Points lost. Our shots hadn’t been falling and we were getting stuffed on the offensive end. But then it started to turn, little by little. We moved the ball around and looked pretty good. We didn’t try to do too much and we clawed back in it.

rigged

Have ‘faith’ on our boys and watch them grow. They’ll come around.

RickP

LeBron is a great player and made a terrific winning shot, but I wouldn’t quite say he beat the W’s.
In fact, LeBron was -2 for the game. The Heat did better, score-wise, without him. Since he played the entire game except for a 5.7 minute stretch in the second quarter, that little stretch seems interesting.
I missed most of the first half, so hopefully someone will fill me in on what actually happened. The stats show that Cole and Beasley combined for 13 points in less than 6 minutes. And, during that period Speights was 0-3 and Crawford went 2-6.
Another interesting fact from the gameflow chart is that the Heat starters outplayed the W’s starters quite substantially. I did see the second half, but I didn’t notice why the coach didn’t stay with the guys who were doing well for Miami.
So, when I analyze the game, I see the same ol’ thing. The bench isn’t very good.
The positives I saw were a very solid game from AI and a good game from Barnes.
In this game, the effective lineup was the usual starters with Barnes instead of Bogut (not Green).
I saw Speights’ stretch just before the half and it looked like the usual — too many errors.

Commish

A great time out and a typical of the Warriors at their exciting best. However, the same player and coaching flaws keep plaguing us: too many careless turnovers, Curry in particular giving his opponents a clear “read” of when and where he is going to do one of his one handed flip passes (yes, opponents can study game tapes), and a coach who seems lost when it comes to getting his team prepared to play game in and game out so we keep playing catch up and finding the best use of arguably a weak bench. Let me predict we will not be meeting the Heat in the playoffs, if we make the playoffs.

Son of Ahmed

You lost me at LBJ’s -2. Really?

Son of Ahmed

With you all the way. There really are no moral victories. But there are some really nice silver linings.
1) That was an entertaining game in a season of many.
2) Curry is a superstar, and he has the highest respect of NBA Royalty.
3) The Warriors for some reason match up well with the Heat and are a thorn in their sides. Yes, that shot by LBJ was another picture in the collage of his greatness. But he had to make a crazy shot like that to beat the Dubs.

Son of Ahmed

The Warriors lost because the King had time to take the last shot. Sometimes that happens.

Funny thing is, when the Warriors had the ball with 23 seconds left, my thoughts were that Curry can probably get his best shot early. Things will tighten up as the clock winds down so attack early while the defense is a little soft. He did, and it took a miracle shot to pull out the win.

Sometimes all we can do is tip our hat.

knick

Please tell us you’re only kidding. The guy nearly records a tripple double, and hits an improbable game winner and you wanna talk about +/-. ?????

high dribble dribble

I know there still are the careless turnovers but when you think about the focus that Miami put on Curry and the fact of how athletic and relentless their defense is – last night’s game by Curry has to be one of his best. The most exciting thing is that he started out as the Ws best player this year and he might also be the Warrior who has shown the most improvement this season and I’m guessing he still going to get a lot better over the next 2-3 years.

“Phasing out such a potent scorer for a half is a significant accomplishment, but also an exploitation of a Warriors weakness. Golden State tends to drift into ill-advised shots if Curry is inconvenienced — tough mid-range jumpers for Klay Thompson, isolation attempts for Harrison Barnes (who actually put together a nice game, with 14 points in 30 minutes) or some other means of undesirably improvised offense. Miami baited that habit throughout, though by late in the third quarter, Golden State had settled into a nice flow of extra passes and open shots.

Given how often these issues crop up, it’s a bit troubling that it took the Warriors so long to stabilize. The non-Curry Warriors shot only 36.6 percent in the first half, all while their point guard was double- and triple-teamed. They busted out of that funk in a way that turned the game in the third quarter, but Golden State needs to have more accessible contingencies when opponents overload on Curry.”

Mr Mully

Great game, that’s a loss you don’t even really feel bad about. You just shake your head and say, “Damn, nice shot.” This must be how Cleveland felt in MJ’s prime.

The difference between us and 90s Cleveland though is we have our own stud in Curry. As Adam states, if LBJ had left any time on the clock I’m confident Steph would’ve came through for us.

Anyways basketball is supposed to be competitive, fun, and exciting. Last night’s game fulfilled that requirement in spades. Damn though, that was a nice shot.

Our Team

Oh yeah. Before the game, a discussion at half court and a big hug. It looked like JB had his wife there to meet LBJ. Hugs all around. Very sweet.

Our Team

I really disagree. At home, especially, up two, you want Curry to go with time on the clock so if he misses you can foul and gt the ball back only down two with a chance to tie. It was the right strategy for several reasons.

nelliebiggestfan

what a game. Games like this should make fans (and owners) take a step back and appreciate what they have. The w’s are a really good team, full of high character, talented players and it’s a team that wins more than it loses, no small task in the NBA. We all have a choice in life, appreciate what we have, or complain about what we don’t have. Setting our expectations at a reasonable level is very important. Fans should expect a winning, competitive team in exchange for their loyalty and dollars. Expecting your team to contend for titles is not reasonable. Lacob should know that he got very lucky in boston. Everything came together at once and the Celtics won a title. Expecting that to happen again isn’t fair to the w’s management, the coaches or the players.

Our Team

Sorry, get the ball back down three or two with a chance to tie.

Our Team

Not your best post. I’ll just leave it at that.

Mr Mully

“From Elias: LeBron’s game-winning shot was the first go-ahead 3-pointer in the final 10 seconds of the 4th quarter/overtime of his regular-season career (was 0-for-7).”

“LeBron Jamesis one of just 5 players in the past 25 seasons to put up the line he had tonight in a road game. And oddly enough, 4 of those games have come at Golden State.”

Lucky Us!

Our Team

“Luck” is when preparation meets opportunity.

Our Team

This is why it is so important to the Warriors for AI and Harrison to play well. Klay is never gonna be “that guy” IMO.

Logjam

There are times when you might want to use the player to assess the usefulness of the stat rather than the stat to assess the player.

nelliebiggestfan

saw some comments that if bogut was in there he could have protected the rim. Nobody explained how he would do that and guard bosh at the same time though.

high dribble dribble

agree – I’m counting on a healthy AI to have a good second half but Barnes is the wild card. Wonder what Jax and coaches ask of him – he seems to handle the pressure well but is still a little reluctant to take charge when he plays. Sure seems like he has star potential.

high dribble dribble

BTW – it seemed like Jax pulled Klay a few minutes into the 2nd quarter because of his poor play – he usually blindly stays with him after he sits for the 2nd half of the first quarter — If so, this seemed like a first for Jax and Klay did seem more focused after that.

JanG

I’m sorry but I can’t bask in the glow of this incredible shot by the best player in the world. What I think about last night is, once again, how this team comes out flat in Q1, gets down by 21 pts., claws their way back, misses foul shots towards the end of the game, turns the ball over, and hopes the best player in the world can be stopped on the last play. Should never have gotten to that point. And what it also tells me is that the W’s can compete with the best teams and can win provided they stop making some mental errors. The absences of Bogut and Wade is a wash. And Dre playing 40 minutes and getting only 9 points is a problem. This guy is an AS, an olympian, and a career 14.7 ppg player. We need more from him. And Curry getting one less rebound than Dre is pathetic. And BTW, MS getting 3 points in 13 minutes should put the other night in perspective. Other than that, all is good!

Stin

Wasn’t even mad- the only person I’ll allow hitting a game-winner against us. In fact, I like to think that The King’s fond memories of Oracle will entice him to join us….eh, who am I kiddin

Airbus01

One thing I’ll take away from the game was the contrast between what may be the 2 most watchable players in the league right now, with all due respect to Kevin Durant.
Lebron does all these amazing things. at least partly because no player’s ever been that big, that strong, that fast, that coordinated, and that smart in a single package. He made at least 5 shots that were just physically hard to execute and he made it look like he could make them whenever he wanted. In fact, I was really impressed that Klay et al stopped the guy a bunch of times.Anyway, the thrill of watching Lebron is the “Wow, how can anyone do that?”

Steph is a guy who physically looks like a mortal and yet he’s getting it done against bigger, faster, stronger guys. In other words, he’s the perfect contrast to Lebron.

Basically it’s Superman vs. Batman.

coltraning

I write this before reading Adam or any other comments, about 10 hours after returning from Oracle. Why? So I can get a fresh and non-reactive take down. I have no doubt that, along with unvarnished appreciation for what was simply a grand match, there will be the requisite micro-analysis of this play, lip-reading of that exchange, 20/20 dissection of possessions, apportioning of blame and credit, etc, calling for this or that head, second-guessing this play or that….it is the nature of this blog.

To me, that would be a classic case of missing the trees for the forest, the forest being a beautifully played and spirited contest between 2 incredibly well-matched teams in one of the most thrilling and high level 2nd 1/2s I have ever seen, with the Ws refusing to give in, despite falling behind by 21. I felt like every W on the floor (perhaps absent Crawford) played well to superbly well, and faced a 2X champ gearing up that had circled this game a long time ago.

But ultimately, I feel privileged to have witnessed an epic duel down the stretch between one of the greatest offensive players in the game today, our own Steph, and the best player I have ever witnessed in person, Lebron James. I have seen him in person about 5-6times now, including another game-winner against the Ws when he was with the Cavs. This was the best game he has played of any of those (and that is saying something). He was astonishing. I truly hope all who watched appreciated what we were able to see last night. Excellent play by both sides and two almost unimaginably good performances.

Talking with numerous Ws fan, all of us sore-throated and mildly buzzed, the overwhelming consensus was that LBJ hit an unbelievably hard and well-guarded shot and that the Ws are a damn good team at their best. As Tom Tolbert noted “if you showed me that defense and that shot, I would have taken that every time as a Warriors fan”. It was simply an incredible shot to end an incredible game. One fan next to me kept shaking his head during those epic last few minutes and saying, about Curry, “damn, I didn’t know he was THAT good!”, and yes he was. But we did know that LBJ was that good and damn, he is…

Onwarrds….

Mr Mully

Six rebounds for a SF ain’t bad. Not to be an apologist but expending all your energy guarding the best player in the world doesn’t a leave a lot left for offensive explosion. Nine points, six boards, five assists, two steals…wasn’t a great game by any means but “pathetic”? That’s a little harsh.

coltraning

Just read Adam’s recap and appreciated it very much in both tone and substance. I thought you captured the special night and magic that was. I agree. We can both say we were there to witness it. Curry was transcendent and Lebron was, well, the highest praise I can give is that if he were a sax player he’d be in the class of Coltrane, Bird, Lester, Joe Henderson and Mike Brecker, and if you know jazz you know what that means…

coltraning

So he must have hit a 2Pointer to win the game against us when he was with Cleveland, because I was at that game…

coltraning

actually, he pulled him in the first if I am not mistaken, as Barnes came in for him…

coltraning

agreed

coltraning

dude, there is NO way to watch that game and think what you wrote, with all respect.

high dribble dribble

he pulled him after 6 minutes in the first as he always does now – replacing Barnes for him — but then he always brings him back at the beginning of Q2 and usually stays with him until the end of the half

last night he brought him back at beginning of Q2 and then pulled him again after 2-3 minutes — Klay had just made a couple of poor defensive plays and I don’t think that was unrelated.

Klay also seems to be more focused in the last 20 minutes of the game than I have seen in a while — maybe since the Xmas game against the Clips

coltraning

right…a smaller example of that was AI’s desperate fade-away jumper. He went into unconscious zen state and I was pretty sure he was going to make it. It;s like soloing on a crazy fast tempo, have had that feeling at times. It is not conscious thought, but instinct and endless years of training into a zen state.

coltraning

yeah, that was by far the most impressive thing. Miami played well, damn well. Esp their defense. So I am very heartened by the way the team clawed back from 21 down in the third, without smoke and mirrors, but with really strong offense and defense, credit to the staff for figuring out how to counter the defense they were throwing at Steph. And believe it or not, Lebron was really well-defended. I mean, we’ve all seen what this guy can do, and he did it last night, but all of AI, Klay and Dray defended him well. He is just that jaw-droppingly good.

coltraning

dude, you and I watched different games. Miami played SUPERB defense, and I credit the Ws with figuring out a way to counter it and outscoring the Heat 60-39 in the last part of the game. You know Miami’s pretty good,right? And AI was superb. He defended LBJ as well as anyone can, but that LBJ guy is pretty good, too…